BAD to WORSE. Please help. - Fuel Economy, Hypermiling, EcoModding News and Forum

Mr. Previa · 02-17-2012, 06:24 PM

SOLVED. See Post #19

Ok,

1992 Geo Metro 1.0, automatic

Today I cleaned the engine bay. Then, I replaced the cam seal, timing belt, distributor seal.

The geo will not start now. I am getting gas and fire. Do you think I got water some where or it is a timing issue?

On the timing issue - I was VERY careful not to mess it up. IF, I had one tooth off on the timing belt, shouldn't it still run? I noticed that the distributor will only go in one way and I am pretty sure that I installed it correctly.

Any ideas? Any and all help would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you.

GRU · 02-17-2012, 10:44 PM

Even with 1 tooth off it will start and run. You probably got water/moisture in the electronics and once dried out it will start again.

California98Civic · 02-18-2012, 12:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GRU

Even with 1 tooth off it will start and run. You probably got water/moisture in the electronics and once dried out it will start again.

That's good, simple advice. Patience. Wait and see if it dries out as suggested. For clarity, you are saying you checked for spark and you are getting it? When you are trying to start, the starter cranks but the engine does not fire up?

If it does not fire up after drying out, go back through the work you did, checking. Redo it. See if something you overlooked suddenly shows itself.

TheEnemy · 02-18-2012, 01:02 AM

You might have gotten the distributor 180deg out. Turn the engine with a wrench until the timing mark on the ballancer reads 0, then take the top off of the distributor and see where the rotor is pointing.

Mr. Previa · 02-18-2012, 08:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheEnemy

You might have gotten the distributor 180deg out. Turn the engine with a wrench until the timing mark on the ballancer reads 0, then take the top off of the distributor and see where the rotor is pointing.

I thought of that. The dizzy only goes in one way. Mine has a small grove on one of the two "teeth". I will check it again though.

I think I got something wet...

jakobnev · 02-18-2012, 11:56 AM

Sometimes you can get a spark when you hold a plug against ground outside the engine, but not when that same plug is put back in. That's because the voltage needed to ignite a spark goes up with pressure.

Just something to keep in mind.

Ryland · 02-18-2012, 01:48 PM

We pulled a Geo Metro engine out of 3 feet of water in a river (on an air boat that sunk) and after replacing the ECU, putting new plugs in it and draining the water out of the crank case it fired right up, a little bit of water sprayed on it shouldn't harm your engine, if you are getting spark and gas then it should fire, make sure that you have good spark plugs and like has been said already, that your timing is correct with your firing order in the right order and it should run.

Mr. Previa · 02-18-2012, 02:55 PM

I confirmed that the timing is 5 BTDC. Will the timing still read "correct" if I am 180 degrees off?

jakobnev · 02-18-2012, 03:08 PM

180⁰ off on the cam is 360⁰ off on the crank. So yes it would.

Mr. Previa · 02-18-2012, 03:50 PM

Can anyone tell me if the dizzy on the 1.0 can be put in 180 degrees off? Mine seems to only go in one way...

I took some measurements of the "teeth" on the dizzy that mate with the cam shaft. They are slightly off set and so the dizzy can only go on one way.